Duryodhana character analysis 2 – Ambition distorted by envy becomes cancerous
And I will continue the discussion on Duryodhana's character. So I will focus on how the envy that was there, it got more and more aggravated.
Yesterday I talked about, because of his entitlement mentality, he felt that the Pandavas were taking what he desired away from him. And so he schemed to have Bhima poisoned. And instead of taking good counsel and checking his envy, he took a bad counsel, that is the counsel of Shakuni.
And thus he made things worse for himself. Now, thereafter he made a plan when the Pandavas were becoming more and more popular, and although at that time it was a monarchy, where the king would appoint a successor, but still the king would also have to consider the opinions, the emotions of the people in general. And he could see that the Pandavas were becoming more and more popular.
So he made a plan that if I can just get the Pandavas away from here, then I will be better off. So Shakuni told him that you can not only get the Pandavas out of your kingdom, but you can get them to go away forever. And he told his father that we have nearby in our kingdom a place where we don't give much attention, that is Varanavaram.
And they are having a big festival over there. So maybe the Pandavas can go there and they can stay there. And they can, the citizens over there will feel happy that somebody from the ruling family has come over there and they can also enjoy the festival.
Now Dhritarashtra understood what was going on. Duryodhana was trying to sideline the Pandavas. And he agreed.
And when he told it in a very palatable kind of way, that we have some fun over there, enjoy there, Dhritarashtra, he was virtuous, but being virtuous doesn't mean being foolish. He also understood. If it is so enjoyable, why would Dhritarashtra not want his own son to go there and enjoy? Why is he sending us? He understood that he was being sidelined, but he accepted it.
And he went over there. And there Dhritarashtra had made a whole plan to build a house made of an inflammable material called lac. And in the age he wanted to have the Pandavas burnt alive.
So Vidura was also very shrewd and he suspected something like that was going on. And he had his spies who got wise of what was going on and they arranged to save the Pandavas. So I won't go into the whole story here.
We will focus on the theme of envy. So he had the plan by which he could actually go out and do all kinds of things. The Pandavas could go and enjoy, that's what he thought.
But the Pandavas were burnt alive. When they attempted to be burnt alive, they escaped. And by Krishna's arrangement, they went into the forest.
While staying there, they met some sages who told them that the daughter of the great king Drupada, she is going to get married soon. And that is her swayamvara. She can choose her own bride, her own groom.
So then they went over there and they won. And when they won that way, at that time, the result was that they actually got the hand of Drupada and not just the hand of Drupada, they made an alliance with those who were among the most powerful kings. The most powerful king at that time was the Kuru dynasty.
The second most powerful was the Panchala dynasty. And when this happened, when Dhritarashtra realised that now I cannot just neglect the Pandavas. The Pandavas had been thought to be burnt alive, but when they came back and he welcomed them, he said, I'll give you half the kingdom.
And he gave them the kingdom of the half part, which was a khandavaprastha, which is like a burnt, which is like a barren place. So it was, if there is a father who has two companies and he is the patriarch of a family, he is going to give two companies to his two sons. But one company is booming and other company is almost bankrupt.
He may say, I am giving one company to each, but it is by no means a fair division. So this is how Dhritarashtra divided. And he gave, now actually speaking, the Pandavas could have been said to have entitled the whole kingdom.
Because their father had been the king and Duryodhana was simply the officiator. In the intermediate period. But still the Pandavas accepted that arrangement and accepted totally unfair arrangement.
Unfair division. But by Krishna's mercy, that khandava became khandavaprastha. It became opulent.
And it became so opulent that many of the eminent citizens from Hastinapur went to khandavaprastha. This infuriated Duryodhana. It's, say, like if there are two teams which are rivals, say, and they are both trying to compete and one team becomes much stronger than the other team.
And then some of the players from this team go to that team. It infuriated him. So that was what happened.
So then finally the Pandavas decided to do the Rajasuniya Yajna. The Rajasuniya Yajna means that they are the biggest performers. The person who performs the Yajna is the most powerful king.
He is the most powerful king. Because it is the family itself, so Duryodhana did not contest it. He could not.
Because it's our family person who is doing it. So he went along with it. And then when the actual Rajasuniya Yajna happened, so they all came and participated in it.
So Duryodhana got the service, because it was a family festival, he got the service of receiving the gifts from everyone. This was probably the worst service that he could have got. It's like somebody who has got acute diabetes and that person becomes in charge of cooking, storing and serving the sweets.
So the more the gifts the Pandavas were getting, the more his envy was increasing more and more and more. How dare? How much opulence? Because he already has such big opulence and he is getting more and more and more. So his envy became unbearable.
And finally the Rajasuniya Yajna was performed and then everybody left. But Duryodhana stayed on. He still had got a very magnificent palace called the Mayasabha.
The architect of the lower worlds, Maya, he had made that assembly, that palace. And in that palace, many kinds of magical things were there. Optical illusions were there.
So Duryodhana, he was also busy in arranging for all the services. He said, I will stay here and I will see this more. Now, actually speaking, Bhishma had come there, Vidura had come there, they had come from Hastinapur, but they all left.
Now Duryodhana staying on was like putting fuel in the fire that was already burning within him. So when he was staying there, he, some places apparently it looked like there was water, but there was no water. Some places it looked like floor and there was water.
So it was all optical illusions just created for more entertainment and more fun. So at one particular point, he walked along and he thought there is a floor and he, there was water over there, slipped and fell. Now when he slipped and fell, everybody just laughed.
Again, there was no malice in it, it was just fine. But he felt infuriated. How dare all of you laugh at me.
Yudhishthira, don't laugh. Don't laugh. But he felt angry.
Another point he thought, there is a door, but actually there is a wall. And he walked through the door and he banged his head against the wall. And then Sahadev came along and told him, the door is here.
He felt even more humiliated, you know, as if I can't see. So by all this, his, his envy became more and more. See here what happens is, first is that they have more wealth than me.
They have more prestige than me. And now it appears as if they have more intelligence than me also. Like I am even exposed as a fool in front of them.
So, his staying on in Khanda, in Indraprastha, Khandaprastha was renamed as Indraprastha because Yudhishthira got opulence like that of Indra. So when that happened, he just couldn't bear it. And because he couldn't bear it, he made things worse for himself.
By making things worse for himself, by the time he came back, he was so wild that he was ready to, you could say, kill and do any, go to any limit somehow to make sure that the Pandavas were not having the prosperity and he would have the prosperity. So here, I like to take a pause and talk about 2-3 things. All of us have our triggers.
Triggers means external stimuli that aggravate whatever is there within us. So, for an alcoholic, going by a bar is a trigger. And we all consider some places as dangerous.
Say for example, if somebody is driving through a road where water has spilled or oil has spilled, then the road is slippery, it's dangerous. So a place may be dangerous because of its location. Say, some place may be because there are some terrorists over there, insurgents over there.
So going there may be dangerous. So the location of a place may make it dangerous. But sometimes a place may be normal but we may be very angry or we may be very depressed, we may be very distracted.
And we may drive through that road and because of our distraction or anger or whatever, we may meet an accident. So, the place can become dangerous because of our disposition. So, sometimes some people are drunk and they are driving.
The road may be straight but they drive in a crazy way. Sometimes, a place may become dangerous because of the association or recollection it triggers. Say, if somebody's family member had met with an accident and they had died at a particular place.
And when they go by that road, that may trigger some such trauma within them. And going by that road may be very difficult for them. So, in this way, now for normal people, there is no trigger at all.
But for that person, in that situation, it may trigger. Sometimes soldiers, when they come back from war, they get post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. So then, if they hear even a balloon being blown, that balloon being blown reminds them of the bullets being shot or the bombs exploding.
And a small explosion triggers off memories within them. Most people just have some fun when balloon is blown. And small children enjoy balloons being blown.
But a war-hardened soldier might get fearful when balloons are blown. So, why? Because the recollection that is being stimulated for them is different. For each one of us, we have to take responsibility to protect ourselves from our triggers.
So, nobody else can take that responsibility for us. Because they may not be triggers for them at all. So, if I am diabetic, then ensuring that I don't keep sweets near me, that's my problem.
Now, others may not be diabetic and they can eat sweets. It's not a problem for them. So, if I know that there are certain things which trigger me, it's my responsibility to protect myself.
If I expose myself to those triggers, and then I get triggered and I do terrible things, I can't blame the exteriors. So, for Duryodhana, already envy was there within him. And when the envy was there, to expose himself to those situations where the envy would get triggered more, that was terribly short-sighted.
So, it is what will be a trigger, I said, like a traffic, I said, it may be because of location, it may be because of disposition, it may be because of recollection. But either way, we all have our triggers. And we need to be careful about how we deal with our triggers.
So, suppose we have had some bad experience in the past. And a bad relationship or a bad event, something has happened. Then, if we start thinking about that, we will become resentful, we will become depressed, we will become angry.
Then, if something triggers our memory of that, we try to remove those triggers from our life as much as possible. We can't remove them entirely, but exposing ourselves to those triggers can be suicidal. So, that's our responsibility to take care.
Another aspect of the psychology of envy is that, actually, when envy occurs, it is not so much about what I have or what I don't have. It is more about what the other person has. So, when Duryodhana came back, you know, Duryodhana came back furious from Indraprastha.
At that time, Shakuni poisoned him further. Shakuni told him, you have not been able to get this prosperity, but I can get it all for you. I can get it by winning it all in a gambling match.
You invite the Pandavas for a gambling match, tell your father to invite them. And I will take care of everything else. When both of them came back, Shakuni came to Dhritarashtra and said, just see your son.
I have never seen him in so much distress. He is sighing in agony. He is in mortal pain.
Dhritarashtra, being very attached, Oh, son, what is the matter? What can I do? He said, the Pandavas, Yudhishtira has such prosperity. So Dhritarashtra told him, Oh, son, what are you lacking? He said, you have a magnificent palace, you have chariots, you have queens, you have royal opulence. What are you lacking? And Duryodhana's reply is like a classic statement of envy.
He said, what man can be happy when his rival is better than him? So, what man can be happy when his rival is better than him? The nature of all the Anarthas, whether it's lust, anger, greed, envy, pride, illusion, is that they place our reference point outside of ourselves. So, when envy is there, my standard of success is how much the other person has and how I can get more than that other person. So, how much I have doesn't matter.
How much the other person has is what matters. And how I can get better than that other person, that's what is important. So, in that sense, envy can actually never be satisfied.
Because even if I get better than one person somehow, that person may also get more. But even if I get better than that person permanently, there will always be some other person who will get better than me. And how many people can I keep competing with and getting better? असव्मयाहतः शत्रुर् हनिष्ये चापरानपी ईश्वरोहम अहम् भोगी सिद्धोः अहम् बल्वान्सुकी In 16.13, 14, 15, Krishna talks about the mentality of the demoniac.
This enemy I have killed, and that enemy also I have killed. In this way, I will become the controller, I will become the enjoyer. There will be no one as good as me.
I have gone your सत्रुष्यो मया In this way, I have gone this much wealth, and that way I will get that much more wealth. So, if we look at these verses, when Krishna is describing the demoniac, we can almost say that Krishna is describing the thoughts of Duryodhana. Isn't it? This is how Duryodhana was thinking.
This much wealth I have got, this much I will get. Now, wanting wealth is okay. It's not a bad thing.
But yesterday I talked about what we do to get wealth. Here, it's not just greed. Oh, this much money I have got, that much I will get, that much I will get, that much I will get.
Everybody thinks about money, practically speaking. But what do we do for getting money? The next verse is, I have killed my opponents. So, it's not just greed, but it is, it is murderous greed that comes up.
So, Duryodhana has come to that level. And he is now going to plan to have a gambling match by which he will take everything away from the Pandavas. Then we have envy.
The word envy can be used in different senses. Sometimes envy can also, it's just used in a complimentary sense. When talking to someone, I envy his singing ability.
Or I envy his speaking ability. When we use that, there is no malice in that. We just say that.
That means, it's just a way of complimenting. This person has such great ability. So, in that case, it's not, words themselves don't have meaning inherent in them.
So, words have the meaning associated with them. So, different people may use the words in different ways. So, when in a general sense the word envy is used, I envy the way he develops friends.
I envy the way she attracts people. Now, this is not necessarily that I desire that, you know, that person's ability go away. Or that person lose it.
It's just that I appreciate what they have. So, in a sense, this can be like harmless envy. It's just appreciation.
There is also a difference between envy and jealousy. Again, terms are simply reference points. So, we have to understand the concepts.
Normally, in any of these, in both envy and jealousy, there are three things involved. I am the person, and somebody else is another person, and there is some object. So, in the case of Duryodhana, it is wealth.
So, he is one person, the rival is the other person, and there is the good, the object, which is the basis for the envy. So, when there is envy, the idea is, I want to get more than the other person. Or the other person has more than me, that is unbearable to me.
This is envy, where the focus is on the other person's success or failure. The other person should not succeed more than me, rather I should succeed more than the other person. In the case of jealousy, it is more person-centred.
It is more, say, if a man and a woman are attracted to each other, and then another man comes and tries to attract that woman. And then if this man sees that woman is getting attracted to that man, then this person starts feeling jealous. So, here, it is what the other person gets is not important, I should get this.
Now, if that man gets some other attractive woman, that's not a problem. Even if that woman may be more attractive than my partner. There the point is, I want this person.
So, here, the object of jealousy and the object of envy are two different things. The object of envy is when we are concerned that this person should not get more than me. In jealousy, we are concerned that this person should not take away what I want.
So, is the difference clear? In jealousy, there is one common object which both of us want, and I don't want the other person to take it away. But in envy, I want that that person should not get anything better than me. So, wealth could be, there is a lot of wealth in the world, I can get some wealth, you can get some wealth, both of us can have a lot of wealth.
But, if you get more wealth than me, or I have less wealth than me, then I cannot bear it. So, when there is envy, then, there is always a difference. So, we will later see now, why I talk about the difference between envy and jealousy, is that, later on, when Duryodhana he had the whole gambling match in which he got Shakuni to play for him, and then, he disposes the Pandavas of everything, and then he wanted to have Draupadi dragged over there, and Draupadi, he tried to dishonour her by disrobing her in public.
Now, here, this particular action was not so much due to lust. It is more a power game. To demean the Pandavas.
If he had really wanted to win Draupadi's hand, publicly humiliating her was no way that he would ever attract her. So, his goal was more that by dishonouring Draupadi, what he wanted to do was dishonour the Pandavas. Anger the Pandavas.
Show them that what you had, I have got it now. And what you were having, I am going to get it now. And I will do with it whatever I want.
So, actually, when there is envy, then at that time, it can go into a very destructive emotion where one just is concerned not about even what I am getting. It is more about what the other person is losing. So, there are traditional stories like this that there are two neighbours.
Both of them were praying to God. And both of them were worshipping God, praying to God. And then God came to the first neighbour.
He said, what do you want? And he was about to pray. Ask for his willingness. One condition.
So, your neighbour is also praying. So, whatever you ask me, I will give you that, but I will give your neighbour the double of that. He said, Oh God, please make me blind in one eye.
Why? Because my neighbour will become blind in both eyes. So, this is terrible. What is the basis for that? It is not so much what I am getting, it is what the other person is losing.
So, envy can be very destructive. I once saw an advertisement of a car in Mumbai. There was this young man who was driving a car.
And there was an attractive woman who was looking at him with big admiring eyes. And behind there was another young man glaring at him. The advertising subtitle was Buy this car and enjoy the envy in your neighbour's eyes.
Laughter So, all of us want enjoyment in life, but what a sad standard of enjoyment that we want to enjoy the envy in our neighbour's eyes. So, if that is what is my standard of enjoyment, then tomorrow if that person gets a better car than me, then where will my enjoyment be? So, one thing is to understand the folly or the futility of envy. But quite another, how do I get rid of envy? So, it is as long as our reference point or our motivation is external, then it is very difficult to get rid of envy.
It is when we become more self-directed. Self-directed means we understand who we are and we try to become our best. Okay, I have these talents, I have these abilities, I have these resources, I have these aspirations, let me become the best that I can.
Envy means that I want to be the best. That's what the desire comes out. Or, at a more destructive level, I don't want other person to be the best.
I want other person to be worse than me. If I have to become bad, that doesn't matter. I want other person to be worse than me.
But if I just want to be my best, rather than the best, sometimes we may not be able to become the best. But if we become our best, means I do the best that I can, in a mood of service to Krishna, it's not that we are not meant to improve, it's not that we are not meant to contribute, it's not that we are not meant to achieve. Arjuna was a champion archer.
And he practised tirelessly to become an archer, of that calibre. But, his purpose was to serve Krishna, to uphold the cause of dharma. So similarly, for us, if our mood is to serve Krishna, and with that mood we try to achieve, we try to grow, then, that is, dharma aviruddho bhuteshu, kamosmi bharadvarshama.
In the 7th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, 11th verse, Krishna says that, I am kama, I am desire, that is not contrary to dharma. Now, Prabhupada explains this, referring to sex desire, I am sex life, that is not contrary to dharma. Priyosacharya also talks of this, generically as kama.
There are four purusharthas in life. There are four goals of life, dharma, artha, kama and moksha. We live virtuously, practise dharma, then we gain wealth, then we enjoy the good things in life, and ultimately we attain liberation.
So, how much can we enjoy the good things of life? The principle Krishna says over here is, don't pursue kama so much that it will go against dharma. Don't pursue desire so much that it will make you irreligious. When I give company seminars, often people ask, how can, if we say we should be satisfied, now if we seek satisfaction, then how can we have ambition? And if you don't have ambition, how will you grow? In corporate life, it's all about growing and all of them having ambitions, big ambitions.
So, how can satisfaction and ambition both go together? Can they? Actually, the point is, when ambition makes us cross ethical boundaries, then ambition becomes greedy. Ambition itself is not bad, but when ambition makes us do unethical things, then ambition becomes greedy and then it becomes destructive. So, to want to grow is a natural human condition.
But, how we grow is important. Now, when a child is small, as the child grows up, the body grows up, the brain grows up, the hands grow, the legs grow, everything grows. So, growth is a natural sign of health.
But when somebody has cancer, then one set of cells start growing disproportionately. And they grow so disproportionately that they destroy the rest of the body. So, growth is healthy, but cancerous growth is far from being healthy, it is deadly.
So, similarly, ambition is a natural part of life. But when ambition becomes disproportionate, that means ambition makes us give up ethical boundaries, makes us give up morality, makes us give up human sensitivity, makes when ambition becomes, when growth resulting from ambition becomes the sole driving force of one's life, then it becomes cancerous, then it becomes greedy, and then it becomes extremely destructive. So, same with, there are many things in life, work or wealth, we all need to work.
Now, how much should we work? It is not that as devotees we are meant to be lazy. Whatever time we are working, we work diligently. Because that is also our service to Krishna.
But when some people become compulsive about their work, obsessive, then they become workaholics. Now, there are different kinds of, we could say almost addictions. There is alcoholism, there is drug addiction.
Now, among these, now generally, even if there is a culture in which people like to drink, and they think drinking is cool, but still even they disapprove of people who become workaholics, sorry, people who become alcoholics. But curiously, in today's competitive culture, workaholism is in many ways a prestigious addiction. You know, this, I have not taken a leave for the last 15 years.
You know, I am ready to work 15 hours every day. I have worked so hard. Now, okay, you work so hard, but, what about, people who work so hard, sometimes their family, they don't, they neglect their family, they neglect their health, they neglect their spirituality.
So their work becomes obsessive. And it becomes cancerous. Like growth is there, but it is cancerous.
And many times people who are professionally very successful, they are, their family life is a brick. You know, their children are into drugs, their spouse is on the verge of divorcing them. And what is the use of such success? So similarly, for us, what is the ambition which is there? So, the same can happen with respect to work, the same can happen with respect to wealth.
Now, wealth is a necessity for living. But when wealth becomes the purpose for living, that means, when I think, my whole sense of self-identity and self-worth is determined by how much bank balance I have. And increasing my bank balance becomes the sole goal of my life.
Wealth is what we live with. But there are some people, for them, wealth is what they live for. So wealth is what we are meant to live with, not live for.
When wealth becomes what we live for, then we stop caring for anything else. For gaining wealth, we may hurt other people, kill other people, can do all kinds of monstrous things. And even ordinary people, when one desire becomes obsessive, they can just destroy everything else.
So, when the Britishers came to India, at that time they had their cloth mills in Manchester and other places. They wanted those mills to prosper. So, India had a booming handloom industry at that time.
Especially in Bengal area, Dhaka area, very expert handlooms were there. So, when the Britishers conquered Dhaka, they just went all over Bengal and all the people who were running handlooms just went into their houses and almost 5 lakh people just cut off their thumbs. Cut off their thumbs.
So that their industry could move. So, here what has happened? Okay, you want your industry to grow, but what limit can you go to? To just make people disabled from their primary source of income, then that is terrible. This is not just the Britishers doing something bad against Indians.
This is something similar happens all over the world. So, when one desire becomes excessive, then people can become terribly destructive. So, for Duryodhana, his greed became, his envy of the Pandavas became so great that he just lost all sense of morality, all sense of decency, all sense of dharma.
And then, when the gambling match happened, at that time, he, first of all, the gambling match was rigged. Because it was, if at all there was a gambling match, Duryodhana should have been playing with Yudhishthir. It is, for Shakuni to be playing with Yudhishthir, that itself is unfair.
It's like, say, two kids, they have some argument and they decide, let's, you know, one kid says that I am better at table tennis. Or one kid, I am better at table tennis. Another kid says, I am better at table tennis.
Okay, let's have a match. We'll see who is better. And at the time of the match, one kid comes to play and other kid has got the national table tennis champion to come and play.
He'll play on my behalf. No, he can't play. So, Shakuni was a professional gamester.
You know, Yudhishthir, he was administering, I think, and for him, gambling was just something which he, okay, it was a game which he used to play. But there is a person who, there is something, people who play amateur games. Somebody who plays professional games.
So, amateurs can never play against professionals. So, Shakuni was like a professional gamester. And the whole point of this game was that whoever puts the stake, whoever stakes the money, that person is the person who casts the dice.
So, what happened in that case was, Shakuni was casting the dice and Duryodhana was staking the money. This was against the rules of gambling. So, in this way, the match was rigged and eventually, Duryodhana lost everything.
Duryodhana, through Shakuni, grabbed everything from the Pandavas. And the nature of envy is such that he started delighting in the Pandavas' misery. And eventually, when he tried to disrobe Draupadi, all limits were crossed.
There are perverse people who sometimes try to abuse and violate women. But they will also do it in private. For him to do it in public, and not just in public, what kind of public was it? It was not just some other like-minded gangsters in front of them, one is doing it.
They were all elders. His father was there. His grandfather was there.
In front of them all, for him to do it, meant that his envy had destroyed all sense of decency, all sense of morality, all sense of even common sense. So, that was a time when he courted destruction. After, when he did that, now at one level, we can go into what was the ethics of how Yudhishthira could gamble like that.
Yudhishthira did not gamble out of greed primarily. He gambled out of obligation. Kshatriya cannot refuse a challenge.
And Yudhishthira felt that my father figure, Dhritarashtra, is asking me to play this gambling match. So, I cannot say no to it. Bhishma remained silent because he was, there were many different reasons for it.
Vidura tried to protest, but Dhritarashtra was silent. And overall, the whole pastime at one level is horrific. How could such a thing happen? At another level, the whole pastime is meant to illustrate something else.
That ultimately in life, we have no protector except Krishna. Draupadi had five husbands who were all heroic. She came to a situation where nobody could protect her.
And then, at that time, Krishna protected her. So, when, normally when we think of this pastime, we think of it as Krishna intervened and protected Draupadi. But even after that, Duryodhana, he, he just had Dushyasana try to disrobe Draupadi and that didn't work out.
Dushyasana got tired. And then, Duryodhana, still his envy did not get tired. His envy did not go away.
He said, okay, we could not disrobe Draupadi. He says, Draupadi is our maid servant now. Take her with all the other maid servants and she should clean our palace.
And, taking her away. At that time, Vidura finally spoke. Vidura said, oh, Dhritarashtra, stop this.
As everything will be destroyed. Dhritarashtra also had, he was also, he had a sacrificial fire which he would always keep lit. Brahmana, Kshatriyas would have the sacrificial fire, he says.
It is full daylight and right now, your sacrificial fire has got extinguished. So when, and he says, I can see ill omens all around. And if you don't stop it right now, there will be destruction everywhere.
At that time, Dhritarashtra got some sense back. And, he, things have gone too far. Then he said, actually, oh, Draupadi, I had called all of you, oh, Pandavas, just to test your gambling skills.
In the heat of the moment, things went very far. And he said, oh, Draupadi, if you feel you have been insulted in any way, I would like to offer you some benediction. Ask for whatever you want.
So, he said that, let Yudhishtira be remissed. He says, ask for something more. He said that, let all my, all the Pandavas, along with their weapons, be remissed.
He says, ask for something more. He says, no. He said, with their weapons, they can gain everything else.
He says, I am not satisfied with this. I want to give you, so whatever you have lost, I will give it all back to you. And, the Pandavas were fuming in rage, they walked out of there.
As they were walking out, Karna, he said, oh, just see, all these people who call themselves warriors, they had to be saved by a woman. He tried to rub salt on the wound. Now, after that, when the Pandavas had gone off, Dhrudana and Shakuni, glaring at each other and glaring at Dhritharashtra, what has he done? He says, we had got our whole kingdom and he gave it all back.
He says, what a stupid old fool. He didn't say that, thinking like that. But then, they both confronted him in private.
And they said, no, you are giving them benedictions, you think it's going to satisfy them, Pandavas? He says, we have already antagonised them. They are all breathing fire. We went, we had sent our spies and they are all infuriated.
It's only a matter of time before they will attack us and they will try to destroy us. So, when he heard this, Dhritharashtra became panicky. What do I do? He said, call them for another gambling match.
And in that gambling match, we will have one stake. If they win, they lose their whole kingdom. If they win, we give our kingdom to them.
If they lose, they give their kingdom to us. And again, Dhritharashtra was sent, they called him for the gambling match. And then, at that time, all the good that was done, that was undone, because they lost everything.
And then the Pandavas went to exile. So here, Dhritharashtra's predicament is seen over here. Dhritharashtra, for him, he had some good sense.
He had some knowledge, he had some intelligence. But, he also had a very strong attachment. Spiritual knowledge is meant to act as light, which shows us the way.
But when attachment is very strong, even if spiritual knowledge comes in somebody's life, the spiritual knowledge comes not as light, but as lightning. It stays for some time, everything you say makes sense. After that, all that is not practical.
It will go on by itself. So, when that lightning, when Dhritharashtra's strong words, when the situation made him realise the right thing, at that time, that lightning came, and he reversed his own course of action. But, after the attachment was so strong, that again he relapsed in the same thing.
So, we, at one level, need to acquire spiritual knowledge to make right choices. But, if we simultaneously hold on to our attachments, then that spiritual knowledge will not benefit us much. Moments of illumination will be there, but after that again there will be darkness, again there will be a relapse.
Now, we can't wish away our attachments. If we are attached, we are. We will have to gradually work through our attachments.
But there is one thing, the attachment is here, and I am trying to decrease it. The other thing is, the attachment is here, and I am trying to increase it. I am indulging it more and more and more.
So, for Dhritharashtra, his attachment to Duryodhana made him like a puppet in Duryodhana's hands. So, even when his morals, his ethical sense told him this is wrong, I should not do it, he undid it, but then he did it again. So, this is how Duryodhana exploited Dhritharashtra.
Even if Dhritharashtra sometimes tried to do something good, but Duryodhana did not let it happen. So, now, here, in two major incidents before, when Dhritharashtra tried to poison Bhima, Bhima came back stronger. When Duryodhana tried to have the Pandavas burnt alive, they formed an alliance with Drupada by getting married to Draupadi, and they came back stronger.
When, third time was, when he tried to give them, pass them off a deserted patch of land, they made it into the most flourishing part of the earth. They came back stronger. So, here, when the Pandavas were exiled, at that time they seemed to have lost everything, but yet, again they would come back stronger.
How that will happen? Discussing tomorrow's talk. Summarise. So, I spoke today about how Duryodhana's envy became so brazen that he got his father to sanction a plan to have the Pandavas burnt alive.
A whole elaborate conspiracy. Then he manipulated his father to have a very unfair division of the kingdom, where he gave a barren land to the Pandavas. And then he got his father to arrange for a rigged gambling match by which he could deprive the Pandavas of their territory.
So, I talked about how envy, whatever are particular weaknesses, there are triggers. And if we know our triggers, then we have to protect ourselves from them. So, just like while driving, a place can be dangerous because of the location, because of our disposition, or because of our recollection, our, what we associate with it.
Similarly, for each one of us, during the life journey, different things may trigger us. And we have to take responsibility to protect ourselves. Envy is such that no matter how much we have, our reference point is that others should have less than me.
And that may make us destroy ourselves while trying to gain what others have. Jealousy is more of the other person should not take away what I have. Envy is that the other person should not have more than what I have.
Or the other person should have less than what I have. And the way to deal with envy has started that. I will talk about it tomorrow when I will talk about especially Krishna's peace proposal.
The way to deal with envy is that we have to become more self-directed. Rather than wanting to be the best, focus on being our best. And lastly I talked about how also how can we have ambition if we want, if we say I should not be envious, I should be satisfied.
How can we have ambition? Ambition is as long as it doesn't make us cross our ethical boundaries, it is good. If it crosses our ethical boundaries, then it becomes greed. Growth is natural but cancerous growth is disastrous.
So if any one aspect of life, whether it is the pursuit of wealth, work, prestige or whatever else, if that becomes our consuming passion, then it becomes cancerous and destroys other things. So in the process of bhakti, when we live in a mood of service to Krishna, we can have ambition. But that ambition is proportionate.
Keeping other aspects of our life in balance and pursuing a holistic growth. So, thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Are there any questions? Yes. Sir, work is consuming passion. So, how can you spiritualise your work? Okay.
So, how can we spiritualise our work? There are three broad ways you could say. I use the acronym IAC. Intention, IAC, Intention, Action and Contribution.
Now, with what intention I am doing the work? Somebody else may, I know, some, most people may work just I want to get more fame, I want to get more money, I want to get more power. A devotee's intention is I want to serve Krishna, I want to glorify Krishna. Krishna has given me some abilities, Krishna has put me in some position, so let me do the best that I can in this situation.
So, if the intention is to glorify Krishna, then that intention itself is a powerful way to spiritualise the work. Archery could be said to be mundane skill. But, Arjuna was practising archery for Krishna's sake.
So, whatever work we do, if we do it with the mood of serving Krishna. Now, the intention of serving Krishna is not just some sentiment I am doing it all for Krishna. Now, our life, life's intention should be to serve Krishna.
That means we are doing sadhana, bhakti, our overall life is aligned in a devotional way. And then, if our work becomes a part of our life whose purpose is Krishna, then the purpose of our work also becomes Krishna. We have a home which is like a temple.
We have family members who also we are encouraging in their bhakti. Then, if we are earning, we are we are earning to take care of our home temple. We are earning so that we have a position, stable position where we can serve Krishna.
That intention can make the work spiritual. That's the first thing. Second is the action itself.
So, certain abilities, certain talents will be directly usable in Krishna's service. Somebody can speak, somebody can write, somebody can manage, somebody can sing. These are skills which can be directly used in Krishna's service.
Some skills, some actions may not be directly usable in Krishna's service. But, even then, we don't know what plan Krishna has. I was in in Columbus, Ohio and I met one devotee couple and their son is is fascinated with robotics.
And he is just 10 year old boy and he is brilliant. He is one of state level competition in robotics. And the parents were saying he is so good at robotics but he has no interest in Krishna, no interest in Krishna Bhakti.
So, what can we do? Then, I suggested to them that he can make some robotics that depicts some Krishna Bhakti. He can make a robot of Krishna and Arjuna and they are having a conversation of the Bhagavad Gita. So, when he heard this, first he said, no, I don't want to do this.
But then he thought about it, he said that, you know, everybody is going to depict something else, something, this will be like unique, nobody will be thinking about this. So then, after that, when he thought about this, now because of his interest in robotics and wanting to depict that, we are studying Bhagavad Gita. What does Krishna say to Arjuna? I want to get Krishna to say that.
Sometimes, how we spiritualise the action, that will require some creativity. So, sometimes it is immediately possible, sometimes it may not be immediately possible, but we try to do what we can in our service to Krishna. So, the action, even if we are doing some other work, we try to see how much I can spiritualise it.
And third is contribution. Contribution means what are we doing with the fruit of the wood. That means, we are meant to give a part of the work that we, part of the money that we get from the work in charity.
Charity is not just an activity. Charity is actually a mentality. The quantity, how much I give, is not as important as the regularity with which I give.
So, the idea is that, Krishna, these fruits are meant for you. And the contribution can be other ways also. It's not just financial.
So, if our work, with our work, we get some position in society, then, through that position, we can attract people to Krishna. We can use that position to expand the service of Krishna. When Yudhishthir Maharaj wanted to do the Rajya Sunya Yajna, at one level, we could say that it was he wanted to be proclaimed as the king of all kings.
But his purpose was not that. His purpose was, if he is proclaimed as the king of all kings, and then, he will worship Krishna. With that position, then Krishna will be glorified more and more.
So, for us, as devotees, if we, the contribution can also mean that if we are in a particular position in society, we are connected with a particular social circle, we can introduce Krishna Bhakti in that circle. If we are not in that position, we will not be able to contribute. We will not be able to have that connection.
We will not be able to do that introduction. So, rather than seeing the work as material and our direct devotional activities as spiritual, we see that actually everything that we do, if we are doing it in the mood of service to Krishna, then it can be spiritualised. Of course, to maintain that mood of service to Krishna, we need direct devotional activities to be done also.
That means, we need association of devotees, and we need to come to the temple, we need to hear Krishna Gatha, we need direct devotional activities which will infuse us with the devotional desire, with the devotional intention, and then we can spiritualise our story, spiritualise our work. Did you answer your question? Okay. Yes, sir.
Yeah. Why? Why did, when Sakula came, give us lenticular? So, when Krishna gave to Pandavas the flourishing, you know, Indraprastha, then why did he take it away? Why does Krishna do this? He gives something and takes it away? Yes. In the first lesson that we learn, in spiritual life is that we can't mind-read Krishna.
We can't mind-read Krishna. We can't read the mind of Krishna. Why Krishna does something, specifically, it is very difficult to know.
Generically, we know that whatever Krishna does, it is for our ultimate goal. He wants us to grow spiritually, he wants us to come closer to him, and sometimes some things we may get attached to, and they may distract us from Krishna. That may not happen to the Pandavas.
Sri Prabhupada broadly explains that when devotees face deprivation, when devotees face tribulation, when devotees are, everything is taken away from them, that is for two purposes. For the sadhakas, it is, for those who are practising devotees, it is for their unification. And for the siddhas, for the perfected devotees, it is for their glorification.
So for us, we often have many different shelters in life. We take shelter of our wealth, we take shelter of our family, we take shelter of our job, we take shelter of our insurance, and through all these, now, it's not wrong to take shelter of these, because while functioning in the world, these are what is required. But, if we think these alone will protect us, then, Krishna sometimes takes them away to show us that these cannot protect us.
And that makes us take shelter of him alone. So, the purification is, the purification from the conception, from the misconception, that anything other than Krishna can protect and shelter. So, when Krishna takes those away, we have two options.
Krishna, why did you take this away from me? I am doing so much for you, why are you doing this to me? And that attitude will make us only more eliminated from Krishna. Because we are seeing Krishna from the perspective of what he is giving us. But, Krishna is Krishna's greatest blessing.
Krishna is Krishna's greatest blessing. That means the remembrance of Krishna, the absorption in Krishna, the whole heart and shelter of Krishna, that is the greatest blessing that we can get. Sometimes, Krishna may take some things away from us, so that we realise that these things are not my shelter, but Krishna is my shelter.
So, for devotees, that sort of deprivation intensifies their devotion, and that's how they get the realisation that Krishna is my only shelter. And for advanced devotees like the Pandavas, when they lose everything, they naturally take shelter of Krishna. And through that shelter of Krishna, they become glorified.
And how great was their faith that although they lost so much, still they stayed devoted. Prabhupada lost everything that he had, and still he persevered in his devotion. Then Krishna rewarded Prabhupada so profusely.
So, we have Kunti Maharani praying. She has this famous prayer. This one devotee, he qualifies.
You know this prayer when Kunti Maharani says that, Krishna, let calamities come in my life. When the calamities come, I remember you. So this devotee, he says, whenever I quote this prayer, I tell Krishna, I'm only quoting, I'm not offering this prayer.
That means, Krishna, it's not that I want calamities to come in my life. So, there is, for Krishna, either for our purification, or for our glorification, does this. Specifically, why this way, this way, that is difficult to understand.
If we focus on the overall purpose of Krishna, then we can see some broad sense. The ultimate sense, actually. Yes.
Yes. As I said that, I wouldn't say that it's correct or wrong over here. Because these are words, and we can understand those words in different ways.
The basic point is that, jealousy is a little more personal, person-centred. Envy is more of object-centred. But, as I said, that's also fair understanding.
There are no Sanskrit words equivalent to the difference between envy and jealousy. So, I would say, it can be understood in different ways. Okay.
Yeah. So, I understand. Okay.
When we say there's no envy in the spiritual world, is jealousy there? Okay. See, in the spiritual world, whatever is required for intensifying one's remembrance of Krishna, that is there. So, now, even if, say, Krishna is with, Radharani is waiting to meet Krishna, and Krishna comes to know, Radharani comes to know that Krishna is with Chandravani.
At that time, Radharani gets angry. Why is Krishna not with me? Why is Krishna with her? But, through it all, what is happening? Radharani's remembrance of Krishna is increasing. If Radharani appears extremely angry with Krishna, even her anger is in the mood of service to Krishna.
Krishna likes it when Radharani becomes angry. Krishna loves to, when he becomes angry and he pacifies her. So, actually, even Radharani's anger is in the mood of service to Krishna.
So, envy in the sense that, as I said, envy in the sense that something bad should happen to the Chandravani, that is never there among the Gopis. But, jealousy in the sense, Krishna, I want Krishna to be with me. Why is Krishna with her? That is fine.
In the Raas Leela, when the Inanand Vrindavan chapter is described, that actually when Krishna was with all the Gopis, and the Gopis felt a little proud, then Krishna disappeared from all the Gopis and he met only with Radharani. And then it is said, Radharani felt proud and Krishna left Radharani also. But, actually, there is a deeper understanding there, given that, Anandavan Champu explains, Kavi Karnapur says that, actually, when all the Gopis were with Krishna, the Gopis felt that, actually, Radharani is the greatest devotee among us.
Her love is unparalleled. So, with the world, everyone should know Radharani's special love. And that's why they acted as a team.
And Krishna left with Radharani and initially Radharani was delighted, oh, Krishna is only with me. But then Radharani started thinking, what will be the plight of Lalita? What will be the plight of Vishaka? They will be devastated by separation from Krishna. And, how can I enjoy Krishna when they are not there? When they are suffering like this? So then, that's why Radharani told Krishna, Krishna, you have gone so much into the forest.
I am tired. Let us slow down. I can't walk any further.
And then, Krishna apparently became angry. Krishna said, because this is a forest, I cannot get a palanquin for it. So, climb on my back and I will carry you.
And as he spoke this, he spoke in an angry tone and Radharani looked at Krishna and Krishna disappeared from it. And then Radharani understood, Krishna had misunderstood. She had started crying to Krishna, begging to Krishna, please come.
And meanwhile, all the gopis were searching for Krishna. And they saw that Krishna is with some special gopis. Some of the gopis started feeling jealous.
Why is Krishna with her alone? Why is he not with us? But then, eventually, when they saw Radharani in separation from Krishna, fainted. So, when they saw Radharani's desolate condition, immediately they brought some water, water back to consciousness and whatever jealousy they felt, it all disappeared. And then all the gopis came together and they sang the Gopinath to beg Krishna to come back.
So, for all of them, even if there is some negative emotion, but it is all in the service of Krishna. And when Krishna goes with, when Krishna goes with Chandravalli, that intensifies Radharani's remembrance of Krishna. She desires Krishna more.
She never desires any harm for Chandravalli. When Krishna is with Radharani at that time, Chandravalli desires Krishna association. But she doesn't desire any harm for Radharani.
Incidentally, if some harm happens, if Radharani is unconscious, they all become concerned. Because they all know Radharani is so dear to Krishna. If anything happens to Radharani, Krishna will be so distressed.
They take care of each other. So, wanting to serve Krishna more and more, that is not the problem. Wanting that others should serve or others should not serve Krishna or something bad to happen to Krishna, others, that's bad.
Once, some devotees in India, when they went to their spiritual master, their book was there. They said, last year, this temple distributed, this temple was number one and distributed something like 95,000 books. This year, we want to distribute 98,000 books and you want to come first.
Please bless us. Their spiritual master told them that, I will pray that you distribute 98,000 books and that you come last. That way, everybody can distribute more and more books.
Our purpose is not just I want to come number one, we want Krishna's message to go to more and more people. So, if we have that goal, then we can actually want more, to do more and more ourselves, but at the same time, we don't want anything bad for us. Basically, our service is our connection with Krishna and the results of our service are also the ways in which we are actually getting some confirmation that Krishna is accepting my service.
So, we don't need others to do less service, so that we can connect with Krishna. It is our absorption that connects us with Krishna, it is absorption that purifies us, and that absorption will ultimately liberate us. When we are going back to the spiritual world, at that time we say, oh, you know, they want to distribute more books than me, I want to come back and distribute more books, then I'll come to the spiritual world.
No, we don't want like that. We want to simply serve Krishna and attain Krishna ultimately. Yes, go ahead.
How you can reconcile the fact that such a co-working is a dice game taking place in the spiritual Bhishma is one of the twelve Mahajans, who have according to the status of Mahajan knowledge and even physical power to stop at any point, so how is it possible that he is not a Mahajan or is some other Yes, so, Bhishma is a Mahajan, how could in his presence something like gambling and all this iniquities happen. So, there are three things, three levels at which you can understand it. One is what Bhishma himself says that I was bound by the wealth of the Kauravas and that's why he protested, but he didn't intervene.
That's a very external level of understanding. The Mahabharat can be understood at different levels. Another understanding is that at that particular point, Bhishma got caught in Niyamagraha.
Niyamagraha is sticking to the letter of the law while forgetting the spirit of the law. So, when Draupadi was being dragged into the assembly, at that time, she raised the question, did Yudhisthira gamble himself first or did Bhishma gamble himself first or did Yudhisthira gamble first or Bhishma gamble himself first or Yudhisthira gamble first or did gamble himself first or did Yudhisthira gamble himself first or did Bhishma Yudhisthira first or did Yudhisthira gamble himself did Bhishma gamble himself first or did Yudhisthira gamble himself first or did gamble did Yudhisthira gamble himself first or did Bhishma gamble himself first or Yudhisthira gamble first or did Yudhisthira gamble first or did Yudhisthira gamble did Yudhisthira gamble first or did himself first or Yudhisthira gamble himself did Yudhisthira gamble first or Yudhisthira eventually that was the reason why he fought against Krishna also he fought against Krishna not just because he was obligated by the Vandavas but because he wanted to Krishna inspired him from within to demonstrate the principle that no matter how powerful somebody may be no matter how virtuous somebody may be if that person goes against God that person will be defeated and destroyed that's what happened to Bhishma now the test that Krishna was not displeased with Bhishma if Bhishma had simply lost his moral sense and had blundered grievously in terms of while remaining silent while Draupadi was being destroyed while the gambling match took place if Krishna had considered to be like a grievous unforgivable blunder then Krishna would not have been there by the side of Bhishma when he departed from the world so Krishna you could say at one level Bhishma had to die he took the side of the Kauravas and he had to fight and he had to die so we could say at one level that Bhishma committed a mistake he judged wrongly made a serious mistake so just because he was a devotee Krishna did not overlook his mistake but at the same time just because he committed a mistake Krishna did not overlook his devotion so because he committed a mistake he fought against the Kauravas he had to suffer and he had to die on a bed of arrows but was it a mistake or let me come to this point so my point here is that when you use the word mistake you have to use it in a very qualified sense as I said there are different perspectives from which it can be seen even if somebody does not accept this point that ultimately everything is orchestrated by the Lord that he from an ethical perspective what he chose was wrong from a transcendental perspective what he did was right because it was all by the plan of the Lord for his pleasure but if you consider from the ethical perspective then you could say okay what he did was wrong but even if it was wrong still it was ultimately perfect because Krishna saw beyond the wrong to his devotion and rewarded him for his devotion so in this world circumstantially it is often very difficult to determine in the heat of the moment what is right and what is wrong and ideally speaking when we are talking about great characters we are not so concerned we are not meant to judge them that they were right or wrong we are meant to learn from them that's why in some purports of the Bhagavatam for example when Chitraketu is cursed by Parvati Prabhupada seems to take both sides at one place he says Chitraketu had no business laughing at Shiva if great sages were sitting over there and they did not find anything objectable in Shiva Shiva sitting with Draupadi so Shiva sitting with Parvati then Chitraketu had no business laughing and he committed an offence over there and then he again turns around and he says that he says Parvati had no business cursing Chitraketu because if there were many great sages over there many of them were great devotees of Lord Shiva also if there some offence had been committed to Lord Shiva then they would have taken action if Shiva himself was not upset then why did Parvati have to curse so Prabhupada I am paraphrasing what Prabhupada says but point is Prabhupada takes both sides so it's not so much important that who was right or who was wrong because these are the pastimes of the Lord so we see that all been orchestrated by the Lord but for our instruction we can draw some lessons so I talked about three levels of understanding this and then when I talked about the point of mistake I was talking from the second level of ethics even if ethically somebody commits a mistake now it's not that just because we are devotees we can say all our mistakes will be whitewashed no mistakes done functionally in this world have consequences but so it's not that because of our devotion our mistakes will be whitewashed by the same time it is not that because of our mistakes our devotion will be negated there will be a there will be a balance which Krishna will always exploit ok I've heard as well that Vidura was as well the exalted soul and Bhishma both exalted souls in other words they were not being able to get along with their devotees and that to kind of like sometimes what we see like from Vamana Purana where one Mahajan fights another Mahajan for example when Prahlad Maharaj fights Yamar in Vamana Purana and one on the side Mahajan another Mahajan in the Parajan of the grief in Vamana Purana so is it that Vidura and Bhishma could not get along with each other is it an example of two great souls having some conflicts see functionally when we act in the world it's always possible that there can be differences because when we have to choose a particular course of action one Mahajan may want to do it one great devotee may want to do it in a particular way another devotee may want to do it in another way so we all have our inspirations we are on inclinations we have our own individuality and our individuality is irreducible it's not that by our purification we will become any less individual we still stay individuals so sometimes there can always be discouragement there is no as far as I have read in the Mahabharata there is no explicit incident where Vidura and Bhishma have a confrontation directly like there is a confrontation between Duryodhana and Vidura Duryodhana and Bhishma Dhritarashtra and Vidura there is no direct incident of confrontation but it is true that among the two Vidura was a more vocal opponent of Dhritarashtra and especially Duryodhana he was a much more vocal critic so we could infer that sometimes when Bhishma did not come out as strongly against Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra Vidura might have been displeased with him and then that might have caused some tension I would say that at that time the culture was quite hierarchical so Vidura is one generation below Bhishma so Vidura was a cultured person Vidura would not confront Bhishma directly so I would not consider that as an example of two great souls having confrontation but Vidura he chose a different course of action because Duryodhana grievously insulted him before the Kurukshetra war so Vidura left the kingdom and he felt that I will save from fighting against the Pandavas and he used that as an opportunity to enlighten himself and eventually when he came back he enlightened Dhritarashtra so Vidura's role was different Vidura could have gone over to the Pandavas side when Dhritarashtra kicked him out but he did not do that because he felt that Dhritarashtra was still redeemable although Duryodhana was irredeemable Dhritarashtra was redeemable but if anybody if Vidura had gone over to the side of the Pandavas then Vidura Dhritarashtra would have considered Vidura also as being the part of the death of Dhritarashtra's sons and then he would have been so blinded by anger and resentment at the death of his sons and Vidura's having been a cause of or part of the cause of the death of his sons that he would not have been able to hear from Vidura so when Vidura went over not to the Pandavas side he went over to a pilgrimage so he came back then Dhritarashtra when he spoke to Dhritarashtra Dhritarashtra had that blinding attachment but now with the death of his son that attachment had become permanently frustrated then he became more open to fear so when he said Dhritarashtra had to lose everything before he lost his blindness lose all his sons and then his blinding attachment was lost then Vidura came and enlightened him so they both had different roles to play over that thank you very much Krishna Prabhupada Ki Jai Gaur Bhakta Vrindaki Jai Jai Gaur Premani.